In Covent Garden? Come and hear Tony Lentin discuss the 'Dethroned King of the Underground at 6:30pm

In 1902 Edgar Speyer (1862-1932) co-founded and from 1905 chaired the UERL (Underground Electric Railways Company of London), the syndicate which financed the construction of London`s deep-level tube lines and was soon running the whole Underground network. Described as "King of the Underground", by 1914 Speyer controlled London`s entire transport system. A generous philanthropist, he rescued the ‘Proms’ from bankruptcy and ensured their survival by subsidising them himself. He also organised the fund-raising for Captain Scott’s expeditions. He was a friend of Prime Minister Asquith, who secured for him a baronetcy and membership of the Privy Council. All this changed with the First World War. A naturalised British subject of German parentage, Speyer became the immediate object of a relentless press and political campaign to hound him out of public life. He took refuge in ...